Backing up a policy

You have the option of taking policy backups when you do the following:

Make changes in the properties of an existing policy.
Replicate an existing policy.

When you take a backup of an existing policy, the default backup file name includes the following:

Policy name
Policy version
Current time and date on the host computer

You may type your own backup file name for the policy that you want to back up. You may choose to overwrite an existing backup file if the backup file has the same name. If you do not choose to overwrite an existing backup file, the policy replication fails in case of a file name conflict.

The backed up policies are stored at \Program Files\Enterprise Security Manager\Symantec ESM Enterprise Console\Policy Backup. The backed up file is stored as a zip file. Symantec recommends that you move the backed up policies from the default location and store them at a different location. You can also browse and save the backed up policies in another location.

The policy version is incremental. When you take a backup of a policy for the first time, the version of the policy displayed as 1.

Note:

You must have JRE version 1.5.0_15 for policy backup.

For Windows operating systems, the file name that you want to back up must not contain any of the following special characters:

Single forward slash	/
Double backward slash	\\
Colon	:
Asterisk	*
Question mark	?
Double quotation mark	"
Less than	<
Greater than	>
Pipe	\|
Right brace	}

For UNIX operating systems, the file name that you want to back up must not contain any of the following special characters:

Single forward slash	/
Double backward slash	\\
Colon	:
Asterisk	*
Question mark	?
Double quotation mark	"
Less than	<
Greater than	>
Pipe	\|
Semi colon	;
Left brace	{
Right brace	}
Left square bracket	[
Right square bracket	]

Note:

If you use an invalid special character in the file name, an underscore replaces the invalid character while creating the .zip and .xml files.

To take a backup of a policy after changing properties

Right-click a policy and click Properties.
In the property page of the policy, make the required changes, and then click OK.
In the Update Policy Version dialog box, do one of the following:
- Click Overwrite the older version of the policy without backup, if you want to overwrite a policy with the same name.
- Click Take backup of the older version of policy if you want to take a backup of the policy.
  
  By default, the Backup file name text box displays the policy name, the policy version, the current date, and the timestamp. You can also manually type the backup file name. Click the ellipsis (...) to browse to the location where you want to save the backup file.
Click OK.

To take a backup of a policy from the right-click menu option

Right-click a policy and click Backup from the menu that appears.
In the Backup Policy dialog box, click the ellipsis (...) to browse to the location where you want to save the backup file.
Click OK.

See Replicating a policy.